Friday, 25 May 2012

In 2208, Imperial convoys regularly flew towards the Red Planet in an attempt to claim the planet for the Empire as it was now only inhabited by a small number of foreign colonists and thousands if not hundreds of thousand indigenous people which claimed the planet as their own independent nation. Many of these convoys carried prefabricated buildings and other useful supplies from the industrial planets of New Terra Forma system. But more important were the convoys which carried thousands of chosen colonists from the planets of Twinsun, Antar and Maijpoor. Due to the influence of the space pirates in these isolated parts of the galaxy, the Empire ordered several Serpent-class cruisers to accompany the vulnerable and utterly expensive convoys.

Space pirates no longer able to attack and confiscate the precious Imperial merchant ships and their cargo soon united under the flag of Tamil Amar. Tamil Amar was known as the fierce admiral of the Red Falcons probably the most notorious space pirate band of the galaxy. Under his command dozens of pirate captains joined the fragile alliance and soon attacked escorted Imperial convoys. These armed escorts often made up by old Imperial cruisers and destroyers were no match for the experienced space pirates which operated from small made shift space stations in the proximity of the Red Planet. During the first battle of Gnui No, one of the bigger space stations, the pirates managed to destroy the Imperial Cruiser “Indigo” and damage another one. This event closed the convoy routes for a period of 6 months as no new cruisers were allowed to enter the Red Planet’s space. Enraged by the delays and losses these brigands caused the Emperor assembled a massive space fleet near the Imperial IV. This fleet contained several heavy battle cruisers of the new Scorpion-class, dozens of Serpent-class cruisers and some Imperial Marine Landing Vessels (IMLV). As soon the fleet was fully assembled, he set course toward the Gnui No space station where he arrived in 2210.

Unaware of the approach of the grand fleet, the pirate alliance fell apart. Many of the pirate chieftains left the Red Planet system as no more Imperial merchant vessels were sent towards the planet. Those who remained and engaged the Imperial fleet fought as lions outnumbered and outgunned they tried to cripple the Imperial warships by either aerial torpedoes or magnetic mines. The battle raged for several hours as the thousands of Imperial Marines boarded the enemy’s space stations. Securing these space stations was a priority as many of these stations contained massive Plasma gun batteries. Initially these massive batteries caused a tremendous amount of damage to the vulnerable IMLV’s, but once these batteries were destroyed or even used against their former owners, the tide turned. Hundreds of enemy vessels were destroyed; dozens more were boarded and confiscated. The Imperial fleet captured hundreds of enemy pirates which were trying to flee in small vessels and escape pods. By the end of the battle, the space pirates’ fleet was decimated and however Admiral Tamil Amar wasn’t capture, the space around the Red Planet was declared open again. Now able to travel to the Red Planet with almost no risk of losing your life or to be enslaved by the space pirates, new civilian convoys were gathered.

In 2222, an Imperial cruiser was attacked in the Antar system by an unknown vessel and confiscated. The hundreds of crewmembers were executed as a retribution for the decimation of the pirate fleet in the second battle of Gnui No. The rumor spread Tamil Amar and his Red Falcons were back and would soon try to establish a new brigand space station in the Red Planet’s orbit.